Liberty Hall in danger

Hello everyone who values the low cost radical community space Liberty Hall has provided over the last 7 and a half years.

It's becoming increasingly likely that the current tenants, the Workers Education Resource Center (basically the IWW and the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee), will not be able to continue our tenancy after either December 31st of this year or January 31st of next year. Our landlord is planning a multi-month remodeling of the building during which he wants no renters in the building. After the three month remodel is completed WERC "might" be allowed back at an increased rent and with one less office space, and he would agree to nothing more than 3 month leases at a time! It is simply not possible for our renting organizations to uproot themselves for three months and then come back to an even more expensive situation than what we left.

So we are looking at our options; one is to find another space that has both offices for the non-profits and a space big enough to hold the kind of events we've hosted in the past (concerts, bookfairs, art shows, speaking engagements, movie showings, etc.), another option is that PCASC and the IWW move in to normal office space and that there simply isn't one of these spaces in Portland anymore, or one more possibly is that if there are enough people interested and dedicated to maintaining a community space at another location (we would not recommend continuing to rent from our landlord) that we/they use the connections and goodwill that Liberty Hall has built up as a springboard for that project.

It's important that we get some input from the thousands of people who have enjoyed events at Liberty Hall over the years, so we're going to try to hold a community forum sometime in November or December to get people who are interested to come together and strategize about what people are willing to do and what resources we have at our disposal to maintain a space that will offer the same uses that Liberty Hall has been able to provide. More details as that develops. If you have any ideas or suggestions, particularly available spaces, send them to libertyhallportland@gmail.com.

It's not necessarily that he wants us out, it's just that the conditions his remodel would impose on us would make it impossible for us to continue renting (having to leave the building for 3 months, losing a potential office space to rent, increased rental price).